Jim Carrey has described the experience of working with live penguins for Mr. Popper's Penguins as "magical".

Talking to Parade, the actor revealed that he enjoyed getting close to the animals during filming and was not put off by their temperamental behaviour.

"I'm not afraid to work with animals. I've ridden ostriches. I've done crazy things," he explained. "There was a lot of contact with the penguins. I found when the real penguins were in the room it was really kind of a magical, spontaneous thing.

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"They don't want you to touch them, but I did. I got closer than anyone else. I got nipped here and there. If it were up to me, and they wouldn't let me do this, I would put a fish in my mouth and go about it. I have a little bit of a Jackass mentality in me. I don't mind getting bloodied for the right purpose. I loved interacting with them."

Asked to paraphrase the story - based on Richard Atwater's classic children's book of the same name - for those who might be unfamiliar, Carrey added: "I think the most important thing is that it is quintessentially a story about a man who thinks he is on a path and the path is interrupted by love and by responsibility that turns into something really special."